Burgess brothers are living the dream in Sydney and England

It stands for Living the Dream and is easy to understand when you look at how the careers of these remarkable rugby-playing brothers are panning out.

Take, for instance, George, the 21-year-old who makes his second England appearance tomorrow against Ireland having made a try-scoring debut alongside twin brother Tom in Saturday’s World Cup opener versus Australia.

Inevitably, the hard-running prop has been asked about the Slammin’ Sam documentary, a slick, fascinating and, at times, poignant Fox Sports production for Australian TV centred on his eponymous brother.

It has gone viral this week as the World Cup gathers pace and involves all four – Luke being the eldest – of the South Sydney playing siblings.

It was aired towards the culmination of the NRL season and gives a brilliant insight into the lives of this Dewsbury-born clan who have, one by one and now including their mother Julie, all swapped West Yorkshire for life Down Under.

One of the most surreal features – aside from former Souths owner and Hollywood star Russell Crowe, almost as narrator, eulogising over the quality of Sam – is the sight of them all going for a swim off the sun-baked Sydney beaches on the day of a game.

It is clearly a far different prospect compared to what they might have done when playing here for Bradford Bulls or, in Luke’s case, Leeds Rhinos.

“They are totally different routines,” admitted George.

“But I love to get to the ocean and freshen my legs up pre-match.

“If you were going to do something similar over here you’d probably go to the local pool or whatever.

“But it’s totally different – Spenborough baths to that – and a good lifestyle.

“It was great being involved in the documentary, but I haven’t actually seen it yet.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about it and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

“It was weird really; I never really noticed that I was part of it, I didn’t see the cameras or anything, which was good.

“It started off just being for Sam and his transition period, but it kind of went off the mark a little bit.

“It was spread over four years and turned into the story of us all playing together.

“They finished that as the happy ending but you never know – there might be more to come.”

Sam joined from Bradford at the end of 2009 but it was only in August this year that all four finally got to play together against Wests Tigers becoming the first quartet of brothers to do so in Australia for more than a century.

Furthermore, all but Luke played for England together too last week – “it’s pretty hard to compare both experiences” – as George earned further vindication for his decision to make the move to Sydney.

He was just 18 and had yet to even play a first-team game for Bradford when he chose to join the Rabbitohs.

Tom had the chance, too, but decided to stay and fight for a Super League spot at Odsal which he eventually achieved before becoming the last of the brothers to link up at the end of last season.

“It was a big decision,” recalled George. “It was a bit of a risk going out there that early but I just wanted to try and test myself.

“I heard that going there younger was a better option so that’s what I wanted to do.

“I lived with Sam for a few months and then I lived with Chris Feather, too, the ex-Leeds and Bradford prop who owns a gym in Sydney.

“As for England, it was always my goal to make my way into the England side.

“I probably didn’t think it would be this quick but it’s going well.”

After his exploits in Cardiff last week, he cannot wait to return to the Broad Acres and play at Huddersfield’s sold-out John Smith’s Stadium, barely six miles from where he grew up in the Kirklees town of Liversedge.

“It’s going to be great to be back in Yorkshire, playing in front of a lot of people that I know,” he smiled.

“I’ll have a lot of family and friends going and it will be great to put on the jersey in front of them all.

“I don’t have enough tickets to go around. I keep getting asked for them and have lost count.

“It’s over 100 but it’s a sell-out so I’m struggling a bit there.

“I’m really looking forward to it though and I can’t wait.

“I never played there when I was back in England. We always played at Moldgreen (amateur club) when we played Huddersfield in the academy.”

After a 28-20 loss against Australia, it is imperative the hosts win their second Group A game tomorrow but Burgess is confident that will be achieved.

“We weren’t fully there on Saturday and we’ve a lot of improvement left in us,” he said.

“That’s a good thing. We only had 45 per cent possession in the Aussie game and I think we made 88 more tackles than they did so to put ourselves under that pressure and to still come away eight points behind is all right.

“It’s a start. We’re not the finished article yet and there’s a lot more to come from us.”

One person who will not be at Huddersfield is his mother who, having spent a lifetime watching all her sons play, cannot get time off from her work as a teacher in Sydney.

“I spoke to her on Sunday and she loved the game even though we lost,” said George.

“She just enjoyed watching us run out. She stayed up to watch it but I think everyone else fell asleep. She couldn’t get to sleep afterwards because she was so pumped.”

Sam is suspended tomorrow, but you sense this story is going to run and run.

As George pointed out, ‘there might be more to come’.

Perhaps the next documentary will be on three Burgess boys winning a country its first World Cup in 41 years. LTD indeed.